Kingdom Hearts: The Ties of Fate
by Delaroque of the Wind
Summary: With the destruction of Organization XIII, the worlds were bathed in a new light, but the closer you get to the light, the darker your shadow becomes. A new and greater evil has been unleashed, and a new keyblade master has been chosen to defeat it...
1. Prologue: Awakening

Okay, so I've updated this opening chapter. I think it's much better and flows better, but that's up to you readers to decide.

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Prologue

Awakening

"_So much to do, so little time… Take your time. Don't be afraid._"

There was nothing but darkness: absolute darkness. A boy drifted through the sea of darkness as if he were in water, being swept away by the current. Suddenly, but gently, his feet landed on solid ground. As soon as his sandy-brown boots touched down, a bright light cut through the gloom. At came from the ground beneath him. He looked down with his dreary, green eyes to see that he was standing on a stained-glass platform.

"_The door is still shut. Now, step forward. Can you do it?_"

The voice rang through his skull. "Umm, okay," he said while trying to shake the sleepiness out of his head. He ruffled up his shaggy auburn hair, and took a few steps forward then stopped. "Why do you want me to step forward…and who are you anyway?" Silence. Before he realized it, three pedestals had risen up from beneath the platform.

_Power sleeps within you._"

"So, you're not going to answer me are you? Fine, I'll play your little game; this is probably just a dream anyway." He looked at the pedestal in front of him and suddenly a weapon materialized above it. It was a blue shield with red trimming. In the center of it was the red three-circle design.

"_If you give it form… It will give you strength._"

He looked at the pedestal to his right and hovering above it was a staff with three blue orbs on top of it, matching the design on the shield. On top of the final pedestal, to his left, appeared a sword with a blue handle and yellow hilt. The same three-circle design was set in the middle of the hilt.

"So you want me to pick one of these weapons?" Absolute silence. "I'll take that as a yes," he sighed. He ran up to the pedestal with the sword and jumped on it. He picked up the sword and felt its weight in his hands.

"_The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction. Is this the power you seek?_"

"Yeah, I'll keep it," he said to no one in particular. Once he made up his mind, the sword flashed and disappeared with a _ping_.

"_Your path is set. Now, what will you give up in exchange?_"

"I have to give up something now? That's not really fair." This time, he didn't bother waiting for a response, and decided to jump up on the platform with the shield.

"_The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all. You give up this power?_"

He looked at it for another second and decided that defense was too important. So he put it back and jumped down. He ran over to the staff and picked it up.

"_The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin. You give up this power?_"

"I don't really want to give anything up, but I guess I don't have much of a choice." He rolled his eyes. The staff disappeared with a_ping_.

"_You have chosen the power of the warrior. You've given up the power of the mystic. Is this the form you choose?_"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't make me change my mind." When he made his decision, the pedestals violently sank back into the platform. He stumbled down and looked around. To his shock and fear, the platform began to shatter around him. "What's…going on?!" he yelled. He fell down with hundreds of shards of yellow glass twirling around him. Even more shocking, he seemed to glide down and landed softly on his feet on another platform. Immediately, the sword materialized in his hand.

("_You've gained the power to fight._"

He swung it experimentally. It felt pretty natural to him. "This shouldn't be too tough." He looked around and strange shadows began appearing on the platform.

"_There will be times you have to fight. Keep your light burning strong._"

Strange creatures rose up from the shadows. They were jet black with big, round yellow eyes. They had short, spindly arms and legs and in large hands and feet with big claws. Their heads were massive orbs with two small antennae and no mouth to speak of…or with. They were twitchy and seemed totally uninterested in combat. "What? These things look like frogs. What the hell?" he laughed to himself.

He walked up to the one directly in front of him and decided to poke it experimentally with the sword. The sword went in with very little resistance and small clouds of darkness billowed out of the wound. He pushed the sword in a little deeper and the creature recoiled with a muffled screech. The others froze and stared directly at him. "That wasn't such a great idea."

They twitched slowly toward him and, suddenly, the one he poked lunged at his chest. He swung out wildly in fear and felt the sword connect. When he looked up, he saw the creature look down at its chest before dissolving into the surrounding darkness while the others silently sank into the surface.

"_Behind you!_"

He looked back to see two shadow creatures rise up from the ground. They stared blankly around, barely noticing his presence. "Oh no, not again," he said angrily. He ran straight for one creature with the sword held out far in front of him. The sword skewered the shadow creature through its chest and it disappeared in a haze of darkness.

The other creature looked directly at him with blank eyes, seemingly searching his features for something. Its eyes locked on to his and he froze. After, what seemed like an eternity, it silently sank into a puddle of darkness that grew rapidly until it enveloped the whole of the platform. The boy took a step back and his foot sank into the darkness. Before he could react, he was already waist deep in darkness. "Ahh! What's going on?"

He struggled as hard as he could, but within seconds, he was on solid ground. The light returned and he was on another platform. At that edge of the platform, a thin beam of light shone on a set of pink doors.

He walked up to the doors and tried to open it, but couldn't touch it. "I guess I can't open it," he said. He looked around the platform and saw a small chest on the opposite side. He walked over to it and tried opening it, but to no avail. Then he noticed a button on the lid. He pushed it and heard a click from behind him. "So that's the trick," he said, as he stood up and walked back toward the door.

He opened the door and a blinding light came forth. He walked through and he was…back home. He looked around in awe. He was in the courtyard of the Tower of Aquila, the Goddess of Thunder. It was the middle of the afternoon yet, the whole area was abandoned. _I can't really be home. Aquila Tower would never be so…desolate_, he thought to himself.

"_Hold on. The door won't open just yet. First, tell me more about yourself._"

"Well, let's see," he said dryly. "Well, I'm in my school drama club, a love eating, especially pizza, my favorite color is bluish-green, I'm the drummer in 'Black Leviathan'…"

"_That's enough. Talk to them._"

He was slightly taken aback. "I haven't even told you my name yet. The name's Urien Gleinwen Branimir. Pleasure to err… meet you, weird voice in my head," he replied dryly. He looked around and saw that the courtyard wasn't as abandoned as he thought. Three of his friends from school were standing there waiting for him: Lani, Arthur, and Mia.

Urien ran up to Lani and she automatically asked him, "What's most important to you? Being number one, friendship, or your prize possessions?"

"That's easy, friendship."

"Is friendship such a big deal?" she replied. He raised his eyebrows and began to respond, but instead, turned on his heel and walked over to Arthur.

"What do you want outta life? To see rare sights, to broaden your horizon, or to be strong?" Arthur asked him.

He thought for a moment. "I want to see rare sights," he replied.

"To see rare sights, huh?"

Urien ran over to Mia. She smiled and said, "What are you so afraid of? Getting old, being different, or being indecisive?"

"Well, that's a toughie. I'm not really afraid of any of those, but, I guess I'd have to say getting old."

"Getting' old? Is that really so scary?" Urien felt like that was supposed to be a joke, but didn't laugh.

"_You want friendship. You want to see rare sights. You're afraid of getting old. Your adventure begins at dawn. As long as the sun is shining, your journey should be a pleasant one. The day the door will be opened is both far off and very near._"

The tower and courtyard disappeared and Urien appeared on yet another platform. At the center was a strong beam of light. He walked over to it, and when he was bathed in the light, the beam moved over to the edge of the platform. Where it stopped, a winding staircase began. It led to another platform.

As he slowly walked up the staircase, a feeling of dread began to creep within him. In the center of the platform, there was another beam of light. Urien ran up to it and looked up to try and find the source.

"_The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes._"

Urien looked back to see that is shadow had indeed grown to massive proportions. It began to rise up like the shadow creatures from before.

"_, but don't be afraid._"

He looked up and saw that it was massive, easily 50 feet tall, and had sharp claws. It had tentacles on its head that covered most of its face. Its eyes were bright yellow, but were almond-shaped, piercing eyes that seemed to see right through him. It had long, pointy, crinkly feet and small, tattered wings on its back… but the most striking feature was the large hole in its chest shaped like a heart.

"_And don't forget…_"

"Not…good," Urien stammered. He tried weakly to make for the stairs, but they had disappeared. The giant shadow rose up to its full height and launched its fist into the ground. The resultant crash knocked Urien onto the ground and a vortex opened up from the point of impact. Shadow creatures bubbled up from it and slowly jerked towards him. Urien scrambled to his feet and tried to fend them off, but with each one he killed, two more would rise up to take its place. "This isn't working," he breathed. "I have to get the big guy," he said as he smashed the flat of his blade on the head of a creature.

Urien ran toward the massive beast's legs and slammed his blade into its ankle. A huge clang reverberated through his body, and he fell to the ground. He looked up and there was no visible effect: no scratch, no cloud of darkness, nothing. The only difference was a chip broken of the sword's blade. "Damn it," he cursed. "Maybe the hand," he thought as he scrambled back to his feet.

Urien jumped over one of the small, frog-like creatures and ran straight for the monster's hand. He tightly gripped the sword in both hands and hacked at the monster's wrist as hard as he could. A huge stream of darkness gushed out of the wound and the creature recoiled with a screech. Urien fell back and smashed his skull on the ground. Dozens of vacant, yellow eyes stared down at him…and before he could think, he was engulfed in darkness.

He was smothered in cold, satiny bodies. Small, pointy claws groped at his body, ripping into his clothes. Panic gripped him. "Get away from me!" he screamed. For a moment, the creatures hesitated. "Get off!" he screamed again. They stopped and glanced at each other. Without thinking, Urien grabbed the creature standing on his chest and threw it into the darkness. He forced his way back onto his feet and set upon them like a rabid beast.

They fell within moments. Adrenaline rushed through his veins and instinct took over. The massive fiend drove its fist into the ground once more. As the frog-shadow creatures bubbled up, Urien jumped onto the giant's arm. He jumped off of the shoulder, grabbing onto a head tentacle, and swung onto the other arm. He ran the length of the arm and landed on the hand. He turned on his heel, gripped his sword with both hands, and raised it above his head.

He hesitated for a moment, breathing deeply. He gathered all his strength and plunged the sword deep into the behemoth's wrist. A geyser of darkness erupted from the wound, the force breaking the sword clean in two and knocking Urien to the ground. The colossal beast screeched an ear-splitting howl. Urien staggered to his feet only to be forced back to the ground by the force of the beast's fists slamming into the ground. A dark vortex appeared below him and slowly began to suck him under. Pretty soon, his legs would be completely enveloped.

"―_but don't be afraid._"

He looked up and saw the monster's unblinking yellow eyes burning into him. I fear greater than he had ever known gripped his chest.

"_You hold the mightiest weapon of all._"

Urien struggled to break loose. He was consumed up to his waist and stretched out his arms in a desperate attempt to escape only to have them swallowed up as well.

"_So don't forget:_"

Urien tried to rip his limbs free in one final vain attempt to fight the darkness, but to no avail. "Ahhhh—" he began to scream… before the darkness smothered him.

"_You are the one who will open the final door._"

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Okay, so that was the prologue. People who have read it before will notice A LOT of changes. I hope you enjoyed, and PLEASE review. Even if it's two words, that's okay.

This story will be almost exclusively OC. also, most of the worlds will be original as well. If anyone would like to give suggestions for worlds feel free to include it in your review or PM me. Thank you and have a nice day.


	2. Chapter 1: Starfall

Here's a slightly updated version of Starfall. Yes, I know It's been forever and a day without any NEW chapters, but... never mind. Just READ!

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_**Chapter 01**_  
**Starfall**

"Uri, wake up!"

"Wha—? What time is it?" Urien said sleepily. He lazily rubbed his eyes and slowly sat up in his bed. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open and he fervently looked around his room. "Where is it?! Aeronwen, look out! The shadows!" he said rapidly.

His sister looked at him with a confused, but slightly worried, look on her face. "What are you talking about? Are you still dreaming?"

"No, it wasn't a dream… at least I don't think it was…." He paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "Anyway, what time is it? It doesn't even look like the sun is up yet," he said tiredly.

"Well, uh, it's 4:30…, but, don't get mad at me, I'm just the messenger. The professor called; he wants to see us…now. He sounded very excited," she said.

Urien turned and put his bare feet on the cold ground. He shivered as he pushed his covers off. He was wearing green, striped pajama shorts and a matching short-sleeve, button-down. It was unbuttoned revealing several fresh, pink scars across his chest. He stopped and furiously rubbed his temples.

Aeronwen sat down next to him and held his arm. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just a headache, Aeron. That can happen sometimes when you're woken up at _4:30 in the morning_."

"Uri, I'm sorry. Besides I already told you it's not my fault." Aeronwen looked at his chest with her bright green eyes. She looked almost exactly like him. The most notable differences were her obvious feminine qualities and her noticeably darker hair. She was wearing shiny, blue short shorts and a pastel blue button-down with white polka dots. "Urien. What were you doing last night? Where did those scratches come from?"

Urien self-consciously covered up his chest. "Nothing. Since when were you so concerned about my health?"

"Hey, what kind of big sister would I be if I didn't care for you?"

"Aeron, you're only 10 minutes older than me. That doesn't make you my big sister."

"It doesn't matter if it's 10 minutes or 10 years, I'm still older than you and, that makes me your big sister! Now are you going to tell me how you got those scratches, not? Look, you have bruises on your arms and legs too." She saw a rather large bruise on his upper arm so lifted up his sleeve. Urien tried to cover up his arm, but it was too late. "You were drinking last night, weren't you!?" she screeched.

He tried to cover her mouth, but she slapped his hand away. "Ssh! Mom and Dad might hear you," he said in a harsh whisper. "And, no, I was not drinking! I don't drink, you know that!"

"Well, if you weren't drunk then you've gone crazy. There's no other reason I can think of for you to get a _tattoo_!" she hissed. The skin around the tattoo was still red and raw. The tattoo itself was of a winged snake eating its own tail circling his arm.

Urien took her hands in his and said, "Promise me you won't tell mom and dad. If you do, they'll make me leave the band." He looked very worried.

"You know I would never do that."

"Promise me."

"Okay, I promise… Anyway, we need to hurry up and get dressed. The professor is waiting."

"Okay, I'll meet you in the kitchen."

-- XX--XX —

Urien pulled his jacket on when he reached the bottom of the stairs. He turned into the kitchen and to his surprise, Aeronwen was already sitting there waiting for him. "Wow, that was really fast," he said in a disappointed tone. "…shut up," he added after seeing the threat of a dirty joke on her face.

Aeronwen stifled a laugh and then looked at him severely. "Took you long enough."

"Well—"

"So, how are we getting to The Tower?" she shivered when she said the last word. "Which car should we take?"

Urien thought about for a second and then said, "Since it's just the two of us, we can take our car…and I'm driving," he added hastily.

"You drove last time!"

"Then you should've called it," he said in a matter-of-factly tone. "We better leave them a message so they don't get worried." Urien grabbed a notepad and hastily scrawled a message on it. The message read:

'_Gone to see the professor. Took our_ _car! Be back in time for breakfast._

_P.S. Don't blame me, it's all Aeron's fault.'_

He placed the message on the refrigerator door, not letting Aeronwen read it, and then grabbed the keys from the hook by the back door. They walked out into the driveway and got into the white Volkswagen Rabbit. As they drove toward the Old District, Urien talked animatedly about his drama rehearsal the day before.

He continued with his little stories until he noticed that his sister was distracted. "What is it? What's wrong?" he asked slowly.

"The dream you had last night," she started slowly, "what happened in it?"

He thought for a second. "I was on these weird stained-glass platforms. I had to choose a weapon and give up another one. Then I had to fight these weird little shadow-frog-looking things. At the end, I had to fight a giant shadow monster and I got sucked into darkness…. That's when you woke me up."

"I-interesting…"

"What's so interesting about it? It's just a dumb dream," Urien said as a he stopped at a red light.

"Nothing… It-it's nothing," she said as she gazed out the window.

"Okay, what aren't you telling me?"

"I told you, it's nothing." Aeronwen said dismissively.

"Fine…Fine, don't tell me," Urien said sullenly. They rode the rest of the way in silence.

-- XX--XX —

They parked on the street and walked into the courtyard of the Tower of Aquila. The southern horizon had begun to lighten. There were a few old people in the benches. Urien and Aeronwen walked up to the tower and entered their destination on the pad. They chose to go to the observatory level near the top and when they pressed enter, the wall opened up revealing an elevator.

When they reached the observatory floor, they were flooded with extremely bright lights. A man in a long, white lab coat scurried over the west wall and turned off the work lights. He had slick black hair and round glasses. His face was slightly lined with age, but he moved nimbly. He was usually a calm reserved man, but this day he seemed…unstable. "What are you two doing here? You're not welcome here. Be gone, at once. Oh, that's right; I invited you! Well, what are you waiting for? Take a seat."

"Professor, are you okay?" Aeronwen asked him. Urien and she walked slowly over to the stools near the telescope.

"Yeah, you're acting kinda psycho—"

Aeronwen slapped his arm. "Don't say that! That's so rude."

"_Oww!_ Well, it's true," he said, nursing his arm.

"That doesn't mean you should say it…"

"And, that doesn't mean you should slap me. You know I'm damaged…"

"And, you still haven't told me why."

"Well, when I figure it out you'll be the first to know—"

"You two must come over here to the north window. If you don't, you might miss it. Then, there will have been no reason for you to come here so early." The twins looked up from their squabbling at to see the professor already looking out of that window. They walked over and stood on either side of him.

"So, what did you want to show us, Professor?" Aeronwen asked.

"Look at the north star. Now, do you see those two stars that form a line with it? They lead to another bright star. That star is the brightest in a well-known constellation. Do you notice anything strange about it?"

The twins looked at the stars that he directed him towards. It took them a second, but when they noticed what the professor was hinting at, they were shocked. "The Big Dipper!! Half the stars are missing!" Urien yelled.

"That's right. Now take a look over to the western-most star in the Dipper."

They looked for a second; the star flashed and then blinked out. "WHAT!? That star just disappeared!" Aeronwen screamed.

"Correct again. Now, I don't believe you knew about this, but the same thing was happening two years ago. It started exactly three years to the day—as far as I can tell from my research—after that strange meteor shower we had."

"Oh yeah, I remember that. The government confiscated all the meteorites, right?" Aeronwen said.

"Very close, but I must make a slight correction. They confiscated –_almost-_all the meteorites. I was able smuggle a few into my office for research. Anyway, speaking of meteor showers, there should be a small one in about five seconds right about there." He pointed towards the Big Dipper. Right on cue, meteors fell across the sky from the area of the Big Dipper.

"So, I guess what you're trying to say is that the disappearing stars and the meteor showers are connected," Urien said calmly.

"I knew I was right to call you two. Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. I've been researching the stars ever since they began disappearing and, I've made a startling discovery. The stars are other worlds just like our own."

"WHAT?!?!" both twins screamed.

"You mean to tell me that those are all different worlds with living breathing people…and they've been going _out_!!" Aeronwen yelled.

"That's correct. I've discovered that the meteor showers are the barriers of the planets falling…and the worlds go out when they've been overtaken by the Darkness. The big meteor shower we had five years ago was the barrier of _our _world falling." They all fell silent for a short while. The sun became visible just over the horizon as they stood there.

Aeronwen slowly started, "If the barrier falling makes the world vulnerable to the…the Darkness, then why haven't we been taken by it."

"That's a question I've been asking myself for the past year. I think I've finally figured it out. In fact, that's why I asked you two here," the professor said with a wild gleam in his eye. "Look out of the East Window. What do you see?"

The twins ran over to the eastern window and looked up. "I see a big, red star. Actually, that thing's pretty huge. Wait, is it getting bigger?" Urien said.

"Go look through the telescope. It's already aimed for that exact spot." The twins followed his direction. When they looked through the dual scopes, they were frozen in fear. "See, I came to understand that ours is one of the biggest worlds in existence. It would take a considerable force for the darkness to take it and, even then, we would get time to mount a defense.

"What a fool I've been. Last night it finally came to me. The only way for the darkness to overcome us is to either completely overtake us with all its force at once, or… to make this world smaller. That's when I found the body that you're viewing right now. They called it METEOR…"

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I haven't decided whether to make the Prof. an OC or not. Anyway, read&review people! 


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